---
title: "Understanding Website Character Encoding in cPanel"
description: "Website character encoding can be a huge issue if you are not using standard characters on your website. For example, if you open a file in the Editor within cPanel and do not choose the correct..."
url: https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/edu/cpanel/understanding-character-encoding-in-the-code-editor-of-cpanel/
date: 2021-08-11
modified: 2021-11-05
author: "InMotion Hosting Contributor"
categories: ["cPanel"]
type: post
lang: en
---

# Understanding Website Character Encoding in cPanel

![Learn about Website Character Encoding in cPanel](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Understanding-Website-Character-Encoding-in-cPanel-1024x538.png)

Website character encoding can be a huge issue if you are not using standard characters on your website. For example, if you open a file in the Editor within cPanel and do not choose the correct character set, the editor may delete code or display characters incorrectly. This can often happen when you are editing content that was written using foreign characters.

But, if your website uses the English Alphabet and standard characters, the character encoding is usually not an issue since the standard encoding of the editor is UTF-8. However, if you use different character encoding, such as EUC-JP, you will need to adjust the character encoding in cPanel.

This guide will show you how to set character encoding using the cPanel File Manager.

## Select a Website Character Encoding

1. [Login to cPanel](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/edu/cpanel/how-to-log-into-cpanel/).
2. Open the **File Manager** in the *Files* section.![Edit Website Files with cPanel File Manager](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/edit-website-files-cpanel-file-manager.png)
3. Navigate to the file you want to edit.![Open the Folder that Contains the File You Want to Edit](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/navigate-to-file.png)
4. **Right-click** on the file you wish to work with and select **Edit**.![Website Character Encoding - Edit File](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/website-character-encoding-edit.png)
5. If you see a pop-up message, you can click the dropdown menu to **set character encoding** as needed then click **Edit**.![Choosing a Website Character Encoding](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/website-character-encoding-select-encoding.png)
6. If you are directly taken to the file editor, you can click the drop-down menu from the top and choose your preferred website character encoding.![Website Character Encoding - Drop-down menu](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/website-character-encoding-drop-down-menu.png)
7. Click the **Re-open** button and the editor will reload with your chosen website encoding. Now, the code for your file should display properly.![Website Character Encoding - Re-open File](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/website-character-encoding-re-open-file.png)

Congratulations, now you know how to select your website character encoding using the cPanel File Manager. Remember, if you are using standard encoding, you can leave the default setting to UTF-8. Check out our [cPanel](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/edu/cpanel/) Education Channel for more helpful tutorials.

Make sure your business, agency, or reseller clients are always connected and powered on with our optimized [Managed VPS Hosting](https://www.inmotionhosting.com/vps-hosting).